Online shopping: Ottawa continues to maintain the blur on the threshold of tax exemption

OTTAWA, on | in the aftermath of The meetings between Justin Trudeau and the CEO of web giants Amazon and eBay, the federal government has continued to maintain the blur on its intentions with regard to the minimum threshold exemption of taxes on online purchases international.

“Is it that the government intends to increase the limit as the CEO of the giants of the web request, yes or no?” asked Friday, the parliamentary leader néodémocrate, Ruth Ellen Brosseau, during the question period.

On the other side of the House, the liberals have responded with the same arguments as when they defend their refusal to tax the broadcast service to american Netflix.

“The prime minister has been very clear about this-there, we made a promise, and we are going to take,” said Arif Virani, the parliamentary secretary to the minister of canadian Heritage, in reference to the commitment of Justin Trudeau will not raise taxes for the middle class.

The challenge, however, is not at all the same as Netflix.

At this time, a Canadian who buys a property in a foreign country on the web and paying taxes if the purchase costs more than $ 20. For an American, this limit is set at 800 $.

In the context of the renegotiations of the free trade Agreement north american (NAFTA), the United States wish that Canada adjusts its threshold to be higher, to encourage canadian consumers to buy more south of the border.

In a press briefing in San Francisco on Thursday, Justin Trudeau refused to commit to maintaining the canadian limit at its current level. He then met with the CEO of the giants of online commerce, Amazon and eBay, Jeff Bezos and Devin Wenig.

The retailer eBay is one of the most ardent supporters of the increase in the minimum threshold in Canada.

If Ottawa had to give in to u.s. pressure, many stakeholders and experts predict that the canadian commerce would suffer greatly.

“We’re going to close a lot of business if we set up the limit to $ 800, or even 200 $. It would be completely catastrophic,” said Thursday, Léopold Turgeon, president and executive director of the Conseil québécois du commerce de détail (CQCD).